Preventive strategies to address unintentional and intentional injuries among young children require an understanding of norms and practices regarding safety and child-rearing issues. For example, determination of neglect is often based on what is assumed to be common standards regarding adequate supervision of young children. However, little is known about attitudes and practices regarding these same issues. For example, at what age is it acceptable to leave a child unattended in a bathtub for a few minutes? There are no correct answers to these types of questions thus this study does not judge appropriateness of responses but rather attempts to describe norms and identify variability in norms by social and demographic factors. The primary objective of this study is to identify and describe parental attitudes and behaviors regarding safety and child-rearing practices according to parents age, educational level, and other demographic factors. An anonymous self-report survey was administered to a convenience sample of parents/guardians at the time that they brought their child(ren) to pediatricians for healthcare. Parents were recruited from three sites: a hospital based clinic, a group practice at a health maintenance organization, and a suburban private practice. A number of topics related to safety supervision and child-rearing practices were addressed. Predictor variables included age of respondent, gender, relationship to child, parental educational level, religious affiliation, race, and number and age of children in the household. One thousand and four eligible participants were approached for the study; 922 surveys were completed (participation rate 92%) between January 1999 and July 2000. Manuscripts examining community norms regarding toy guns, parental monitoring of children's viewing of violence on telivision, and beleifs about the appropriate age to initiate toilet training have been published. Analyses of other parental attitudes and behaviors are ongoing.